1. Technical Field
The embodiments described herein generally relate to automated processing of an image of a financial document captured by a mobile device, and more particularly to capturing, processing and obtaining data from an image of a remittance coupon captured by a mobile device in order to set up or pay a bill associated with the remittance coupon.
2. Related Art
Remittance processing services provide payment processing services for other businesses. A remittance processing service may be set up by a bank. Often these services set up one or more post office boxes for receiving payments from customers in the form of paper checks. Typically the user will include a remittance slip or remittance coupon with the payment.
Banks and other businesses often provide remittance slips or coupons that a customer can include with a payment. These coupons may be included with an invoice or provided to a customer in advance. For example, some mortgage lenders or automobile lenders provide a book of remittance coupons to customers who then tear out a mail a remittance coupon with each scheduled payment. The remittance coupons generally include customer account information, an amount due, and a due date for the payment. The customer account information might include an account holder name, mailing address, and a customer account number. Other information, such as the mailing address of the bank or business may also be included on the remittance coupon. Some remittance coupons also include computer-readable bar codes or code lines that include text or other computer-readable symbols that can be used to encode account-related information that can be used to reconcile a payment received with the account for which the payment is being made. The bar code or code line can be detected and decoded by a computer system to extract the information encoded therein.
In general, the remittance coupon is mailed with a check or other form of payment to the bank or other business or to a payment processing company designated by the bank or other business. In some systems, data entry clerks may manually enter payment information into a payment processing system. In other systems, the remittance coupon and/or the check may be scanned by a computer system for automated processing.
Other means of paying bills include using online banking, paying a bill directly with the biller by accessing the biller's website, or calling the biller to pay the bill over the phone. Online banking provides convenience to some customers, but the process is cumbersome. Typically, the consumer needs to first set up the biller on the consumer's bank's website, which means manually entering the biller information, including account number and mailing address. Then, the consumer must enter the payment information (e.g., the payment amount, payment date, etc. . . . ). This manual data entry is susceptible to user error, can be time consuming, and inconvenient for consumers, which can inhibit the adoption rate of online banking bill payment.
What is needed is a convenient, easy-to-use method for paying a bill which also maintains or increases the accuracy of the information gathered from the remittance coupon.